


your love is a secret (i'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep)

by greyspilot



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Kinda, M/M, Prom fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26103241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyspilot/pseuds/greyspilot
Summary: “It’s nothing,” he said again, because it was nothing. At least nothing worth being upset over, and Steve was frustrated enough with himself that he was upset over it, because it was just some stupid dance. And it was fine that Billy didn’t want to go, it was fine that he said it was lame.It was fine that Steve wanted one, normal high school night with his boyfriend and it was fine that he wasn’t going to get it.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 12
Kudos: 148
Collections: harringrove for BLM





	your love is a secret (i'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pizzz_10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizzz_10/gifts).



> title from King of My Heart by Taylor Swift

“Hey, Harrington,” Billy called, throwing open the door to Family Home Video and breezing past the sign that Steve had just flipped to  _ closed _ . “Can I get some service over here?”

Steve sighed, huffed out, “We’re closed, sorry.”

“Well I got a hot date tonight,” Billy said, following when Steve moped his way back to the register. “So I need something romantic, you know? Gotta set the mood.”

Acting far more confident than he  _ ever _ felt around Billy, Steve cocked a brow and started counting the float. “What? Think your date’s gonna put out?”

“I don’t know, they have been pretty distant lately,” Billy leaned over, face in his palms and elbows on the counter, tan chest on full display because apparently he didn’t know how buttons worked (not that Steve cared) and just as he was about to turn away, ignore Billy in favour of locking the cash in the safe and hip-checking the register closed, Billy reached out a hand. Index finger hooking under Steve’s chin, thumb caressing the curve of his jaw, Billy tilted Steve’s head so he could finally look at those big brown eyes. “Gonna tell me what’s been on that pretty little mind of yours?”

“It’s nothing,” Steve put on his best smile, the one he’d practiced and perfected for his parents, and then Tommy, and then Nancy and now, for Billy. He knew the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, could feel the strain in the apples of his cheeks, but he knew Billy wouldn’t notice. No one ever had before. “Ready to go?”

Billy hesitated for a moment, eyes lingering on that smile, fingers toying with the surfboard keychain Steve had got him on their second official date. (It was a promise, Steve had said, that one day they’d go back to Cali, and Billy would teach him how to surf.)

His brow furrowed the way it did whenever he was deep in thought. Steve had seen that look a million times, huddled over stacks of homework or the propped-up hood of the Camaro, but he’d never seen that look directed at  _ him _ . He’d never been something Billy had to figure out.

And then Billy snatched up the keys, said  _ yeah, let’s go _ as though he hadn’t wanted to say more. (As if he didn’t see right through that smile Steve was wearing.)

Steve had thought, maybe a little naively, that a well-rehearsed smile and a change of scenery would be enough for them to move past it. His parents were away for the weekend (yet another business trip where they hadn’t thought to invite him) which meant he had Billy for the  _ whole weekend _ . He’d thought that two days and three nights all alone with Steve in a big house would be enough to make Billy smile, but that frown was there almost the whole drive back to Steve’s place. Only almost though, because right before they turned onto Steve’s street, the Camaro pulled to a stop on the side of the road.

“Wha-”

“Talk to me, Steve,” Billy said, cutting the ignition and twisting in his seat. “And don’t give me that smile. I know the difference, okay? I know something is wrong but I can’t make it better unless you talk to me.”

Steve shifted in his seat a little as his attention turned away from Billy’s blue eyes and down to his hands in his lap.

“It’s  _ nothing _ ,” he said again, because it  _ was _ nothing. At least nothing worth being upset over, and Steve was frustrated enough with himself that he  _ was _ upset over it, because it was just some  _ stupid _ dance. And it was  _ fine _ that Billy didn’t want to go, it was fine that he said it was  _ lame _ , that he said it was  _ just one big circle-jerk for the douchebags who’re gonna be stuck in high school for the rest of their lives _ .

It was fine that Steve wanted one, normal high school night with his boyfriend and it was fine that he wasn’t going to get it.

And then Billy said, “It’s prom, right?”

Something thick and heavy slithered under Steve’s skin and he flushed hot as it settled in the pit of his stomach.

“If you already knew then why did you ask?”

He sank down into his chair, waiting for the harsh sting of Billy’s words, but the slap didn’t come. Instead, Billy laid a rough hand softly on Steve’s knee.

“I’d hoped you’d trust me enough to just  _ tell me _ .”

“I  _ do _ trust you, BIlly,” Steve said, sparing a glance up at Billy through thick lashes. “You just shot it down so hard, I didn’t wanna bring it up again.”

“But I wasn’t shooting  _ you _ down, you know that right? Fuck, Steve, I’d love to go with you and drink bad punch and listen to shitty music and fuckin’  _ dance _ with you, but I wanna do it with  _ you _ . I didn’t wanna go with Heather and I didn’t want you to go with Robin and I know- it’s  _ Hawkins _ , Steve. I didn’t wanna spend all night, thinking about how good you look in a tux and not be able to do a damn thing about it.”

The heaviness in his stomach was gone, replaced with something warm and tingly. His skin burned beneath his jeans as Billy’s hand trailed a little higher up his thigh.

Steve licked his lips. “I have a tux inside.”

Billy let out an airy laugh, shook his head just a little. Steve would be embarrassed if it weren’t for the shade of pink dusting Billy’s cheeks and the way the hand on his thigh squeezed.

“I know,” Billy said, voice strained like he was trying  _ not _ to think about how good Steve would look in that tux (and all the things he could do about it) and that made Steve smile, just a little, “but I have something else in mind.”

And then the hand on his thigh was gone and the engine was roaring to life and before Steve could even wonder what Billy could’ve meant, Steve’s house was coming into view.

String lights twinkled in the branches of trees and lit up his front yard. Four of his dining chairs had been dragged out by the front door, a little red cooler sat on one and a boombox on another. As the Camaro slowed to a stop, Steve heard the distant riff of electric guitar. And he would’ve laughed at Billy’s choice in music, but at least he’d had the decency to pick a love song.

“Bill,” the name slipped from his lips almost like an accident, like Billy’s name was always there, waiting on his lips, hidden in every breath Steve took. “What is this?”

“ _ Our _ prom,” Billy said, getting out of the car and running around the side to open Steve’s door (smacking the hood when he saw Steve reach for it himself).

“What if someone sees?”

Steve knew he should really quit while he was ahead, because this was the most romantic thing Billy had done for him, the closest he was going to get to a normal, high school night, but if someone caught them making out in Steve’s front yard-

“Your parents are away,” he answered simply, taking Steve’s hand and dragging him across the road, “and everyone else is at  _ their _ prom. It’s just you and me here, Stevie.”

A wide grin split across Steve’s face as he took in the prom that Billy had put together. Silver and gold tinsel wrapped around the legs of the chairs, there was a six-pack of beer in the cooler and the tape in the boombox read  _ Billy + Steve’s Prom Mix _ .

His smile softened when he looked over at Billy. He’d always said he was a golden adonis but the twinkling lights above them brought that to a whole new level as the incandescent light made his tan skin glow and his dirty blonde hair shine. He was beautiful. (And he was  _ Steve’s _ .)

And then the guitar faded out and something softer faded in. Steve almost did a double-take, because Billy would  _ never _ listen to this song.

“You  _ hate _ this song,” he teased as Cyndi Lauper sang the opening lines to  _ Time After Time. _

The corners of Billy’s lips twitched into a smile but he masked it with a cool shrug. “Yeah, but you don’t.”

Steve’s knees wobbled a little, excitement fluttered like butterflies in his stomach. Goosebumps tingled up his arms and the line of his spine.

“So,” Billy’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips, a nervous tick that Steve had noticed a while back. (He’d never mentioned it to Billy, but it made him feel a little better, knowing that he made Billy just as nervous as he made Steve.) “You wanna dance with me, pretty boy?”

It took all of Steve not to kiss him as he took his hand, pressed his body close to Billy’s. Close enough that he could feel the friction of Billy’s tight blue jeans against his khakis, close enough that he could see the flecks of green in Billy’s blue eyes, count the freckles that spattered across the bridge of his nose.

Close enough that he took Steve’s breath away.

Billy wrapped his arms tighter around Steve’s waist and let out a soft, content sigh. His breath smelled like mint and tobacco, his hair like vanilla and coconut.

Steve let his forehead rest against the silk of Billy’s top where his shoulder met his neck and breathed him in, the scent of Billy and what he imagined California smelled like. The scent of  _ home _ .

Lips met the exposed side of Steve’s neck and the words  _ I love you  _ pressed into his skin and all of a sudden Steve forgot why exactly he  _ wasn’t _ already kissing Billy.

No one was around. His parents were away. Everyone was at prom. 

It was just the two of them.

“Hey,” Steve said, low and thick as he lifted his head to look at Billy. “I love you.”

The smile Billy gave him was brighter than the lights above them and Steve’s heart leaped into his throat. Billy smiled like it was the first time Steve had said that (like he hadn’t said it on the third fucking date).

“I love you,” he said again, just because he didn’t want that smile to go away just yet.

And then he kissed him, under the lights that shimmered like a mirrorball, out in the open in the middle of Hawkins, just because he could.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for pizzacast on tumblr! i hope you like it and i'm sorry it took so long <3


End file.
